Love You to Death

  LOVE YOU TO DEATH

  BEBE FAAS RICE

  He wants her all to himself. . . .

  He didn’t want Julie hanging out with any of her friends. That blue-eyed guy, for example, who kept looking at Julie, touching her, trying to make her laugh . . . it had taken all his self-control not to go over there and knock that guy around.

  But that guy wasn’t worth losing his cool over. Julie didn’t even like him, Quinn could tell.

  He chuckled. Julie was a prize worth winning. And when she was his, they would be together, and happy, forever. Just the two of them. They wouldn’t need anyone else.

  She would make him forget the terrible parts of his life. His father. Alison. The Place.

  But what if her friends tried to interfere, like last time, the way Alison’s had?

  Let them try. They’d be sorry if they did. He was older and smarter now. He knew how to handle creeps like that.

  Yes, he’d make them sorry if they did.

  And this time he wouldn’t get caught.

  All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  Copyright © 1994 by Bebe Faas Rice and Daniel Weiss Associates, Inc.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of Alloy Entertainment. If you would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), write to permission@alloyentertainment.com. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

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  Reprint edition 2016

  To Marie and John, with love.

  CONTENTS

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  CHAPTER ONE

  Afterward—for the rest of her life, in fact—Julie Hagan would wonder at the suddenness of it.

  One moment was all it took. One brief moment and her life was changed forever.

  “Wow, check that out!” Shelley Molino said, her Bambi-brown eyes widening, as she stared over Julie’s shoulder toward the entrance to the cafeteria.

  Julie set her loaded tray on the table, the special table reserved by unspoken law for members of Jefferson High’s elite “in” group.

  Then she turned and followed Shelley’s gaze.

  And caught her breath as the boy in the doorway looked back at her.

  Even at this distance, halfway across the busy, noisy school cafeteria, Julie felt drawn to him. Felt the sudden, almost physical current that seemed to flow between them. Deep inside her, she felt everything—heart, stomach, whatever—give an odd little lurch. She pressed her hand to her mouth, almost frightened by her reaction to him.

  What’s happening to me? she thought. And why? Is it his looks? Or is it the way he’s staring at me?

  The boy had stepped to the side of the entrance now, away from the crowd of students that surged through the door behind him. He was leaning against the wall, his hands in the pockets of his faded jeans, a slight frown on his face. And he was staring at her.

  Yes, staring. She was sure it was at her.

  His eyes . . . so dark, so intense. Were they black? Blue-black, maybe? It was hard to tell from here.

  He isn’t exactly what you’d call handsome, Julie thought, trying to collect her wits. Rugged? Yeah. Sexy? Definitely sexy, and there’s something about the way he’s standing that tells you he knows how to take care of himself.

  “Hey, Tara,” Jessica Claggett said, her voice breaking through Julie’s daze. “Has that guy over there got a thing for you, or what?”

  Tara, Julie thought, dismayed. He’s been staring at Tara, not me!

  Julie hoped she didn’t look as humiliated as she felt. What on earth made her think she was the one he’d been watching so intently? He probably hadn’t even noticed her standing there, gawking at him with her mouth hanging open. At least she hoped he hadn’t. She must have looked like a total jerk!

  He had been staring at Tara Braxton, the resident Southern belle. Her ancestors had founded this small but classy little town and then modestly named it after themselves: Braxton Falls, Virginia. Braxton Falls on the Potomac. Tara’s social credentials in this part of the country carried a lot of weight.

  Yes, he was watching Tara, all right. Naturally. Who else rated that kind of attention? Tara and Jessica had come to the table right after Julie. They’d been standing behind her the whole time. And he’d been looking past her at Tara, while she’d mistakenly thought that . . .

  And yet . . .

  No. It was always Tara who got the cute ones. Gorgeous Tara with her thick, straight black hair and long-lashed gray eyes. She was the one boys looked at first.

  Julie sat down at the table, taking care to turn her back on him. She’d show him she’d known all along just who it was he’d been staring at. And that she didn’t care.

  Tara sat down facing her and preened a little, stealing a quick glance across the room from under lowered lashes.

  “Has who got a thing for me, Jess? If you mean that gorgeous six-foot hunk over by the door, I haven’t noticed.”

  Jessica and Shelley laughed appreciatively. They had been friends with Tara since grade school, but they still acted a little too eager to please. They were constantly flattering Tara, trying desperately to keep on her good side.

  “You were saying yesterday you hoped we’d get some new guys at school this year,” Shelley said to Tara. “Well, this one is definitely new. We’d all remember him if he’d ever set foot in this place before.”

  “Shelley, don’t keep looking at him!” Tara scolded. “I don’t want him to know we’re talking about him. I’m going to play hard to get with this one.” She laughed and a dimple flashed briefly in one cheek. “This will definitely make things more interesting around here. He’s mine, starting right now, so hands off, everybody.”

  “If you’ve set your sights on him, Tara, the poor guy doesn’t stand a chance,” Jessica said, smiling.

  Tara flipped back her long hair and looked pleased.

  She really likes this, Julie thought. She likes having this power over people. That’s what her looks and money and social status mean to her. Power over the rest of us.

  Julie wondered why she hung out with Tara and the others. She’d been wondering that a lot recently. Why, when she certainly knew better, had she tied herself up with this snobby little trio who didn’t believe in associating with what they called “losers and dweebs”? Anyone outside their small circle of carefully selected class beauties, student-body leaders, and top-notch school athletes was considered beneath their notice.

  Julie sighed, picked up her fork, and poked at her food.
Mystery meat again, covered with some kind of runny-looking sauce.

  “Don’t look now—Shelley, don’t turn around!—but Mr. Sexpot is going through the cafeteria line,” Jessica reported in a stage whisper. “Maybe he’ll come this way. Wait . . . no . . . he’s going to the corner where the science nerds hangout—that ought to give creepy Norine Goldsmith the thrill of her life.”

  “I don’t think Norine’s all that interested in boys right now,” Julie said.

  “Why not?” Jessica asked. “’Cause she likes computers better?”

  “No. Norine’s trying to get a scholarship to Cal Tech, and that’s the most important thing in her life right now. I wouldn’t expect you to understand that, Jessica.”

  Julie hadn’t meant to sound so cold and hostile. It had simply come out that way, and it was too late to change it now. Fortunately, it was hard to insult Jessica. Things seemed to bounce right off her.

  “Well, pardon me, Miss Priss,” Jessica responded, making a face. “Aren’t we touchy today, defending the nerds and making life safe for democracy?”

  “Girls! Girls!” said Tara. “All for one and one for all, remember? We’re friends, okay?”

  Julie suddenly felt tired. Tired and bored.

  What’s wrong with me? she wondered. Must just be the back-to-school blues.

  She glanced off to the far corner, to the science nerds’ table. He looked as good from the back as he did from the front.

  Am I jealous of Tara? Is that it?

  No. It wasn’t just that. Julie wasn’t surprised by Tara’s going after the new guy. But she’d been feeling critical of Tara, Jessica, and Shelley for several months now. Before last summer, even. She’d been friends with them ever since she moved to Braxton Falls three years ago. She’d been a shy eighth-grader then, eager for acceptance. She’d been thrilled when the three prettiest, most popular girls in her class included her in their group.

  “Three’s a bad number,” Tara had explained. “You know—two’s company and three’s a crowd and all that. Somebody always feels left out when there are only three of you. Four is much, much better.”

  But now that she was sixteen and a junior at Jefferson High, Julie didn’t like being a member of Tara’s foursome anymore. They acted so silly and shallow sometimes. But still, hanging out with them did mean she was always included in the band of popular kids that revolved around Tara.

  And if she did stop hanging out with Tara and the others, her last two years at Jefferson High might be pretty miserable. Tara would probably see to it that she was snubbed as a punishment for her disloyalty. She’d done it before to a girl who’d made her mad, and Julie didn’t think she was strong enough to cope with treatment like that.

  And besides, she thought with a shrug, why should I do something crazy like that, anyway? Who wouldn’t want to be one of the movers and shakers of Jefferson High? They’re the ones who make things happen and have all the fun. And it makes Mom happy that I’m friends with Tara.

  For Julie’s mother, moving to prestigious Braxton Falls had been the realization of all her girlhood dreams.

  When her husband parlayed a small restaurant into a modest chain of fast-food diners, Mrs. Hagan talked him into moving to Braxton Falls and buying a huge custom-built home in Hunter Valley, an area that had once belonged to Tara’s aristocratic ancestors. And nothing thrilled her more than knowing that her daughter was considered good enough to be friends with one of the famous Braxtons.

  The cafeteria table was filling up now, and Julie found herself squashed between Brad Stafford, junior-class playboy, and Nick Wells, the editor of the school paper.

  “You’re awfully quiet today, gorgeous,” Brad said, flashing his famous, even-toothed smile, the smile that could bring every girl at Jefferson High to her knees.

  Well, almost every girl. Julie was the exception. Brad wasn’t her type. For one thing, he was too good-looking, with that blond hair, and those blue eyes and white teeth. She didn’t trust all that perfection. He was always pretending to come on to her lately, hamming it up as he grabbed her knee or played footsie with her. Julie found it all really embarrassing.

  At this very minute she could feel his thigh jammed up against hers, from hip to knee. Of course, the table was crowded, but he was sitting a little closer than he had to. And when he started wriggling his eyebrows at her, Julie decided she’d had enough.

  Furious, she planted an elbow in his side and shoved. Hard.

  “Ouch!” he gasped, moving away from her. “Geez, Julie, take it easy, will you? Can’t a guy get a little friendly around here without you laying on the ninja stuff?”

  “Go get friendly with someone else, Romeo,” she snapped.

  “You’re beautiful when you’re angry,” Brad said, rubbing his side gingerly.

  Tara waved him to silence with a fluttering motion of her hand and leaned forward across the table, lowering her voice.

  “Listen, guys, does anybody know anything about that new boy? The tall, good-looking one?”

  This is her way of playing hard to get? Julie thought, amused. By the time school lets out today, everyone within earshot will know that Tara Braxton’s going after the new guy.

  “He’s a senior, that’s all I know,” Nick Wells offered. “And he’s from out of town. I don’t know why he’s a couple weeks late starting school, though.”

  “Isn’t he great?” asked Lisa Doyle, sighing. “What a hunk!”

  Lisa was one of the best cheerleaders at Jefferson High. A slim, compact little blonde, she combined top-quality gymnastics with her routines.

  “I was over by the principal’s office when he checked in this morning,” she went on. “Naturally, I asked around about him, but all anyone knows is that his name’s Quinn McNeal, and that he’s eighteen and a senior. Karen Slack works part-time in the office. She promised to find out everything she can about him.”

  “There are a couple of rumors going around about him,” said Colin King. As the captain of the football team, Colin had probably looked the newcomer over with an eye toward recruiting him, Julie figured. Quinn was certainly big enough.

  “I don’t know where they started,” Colin said. “One kid told me he’s a former dropout from another town who’s come back to school to finish his education. But then someone else said he was orphaned in some kind of accident and that he’s been in the hospital for a long time because of it.”

  “That explains why he looks older than other senior guys,” Lisa said. “And Karen heard him tell the principal’s secretary he lives alone in a basement apartment in town, so the orphan rumor must be true.”

  “Hmmm,” Tara said, her eyes glowing. “He gets more interesting by the minute. He’s a real mystery man, isn’t he?”

  When they got up to leave the cafeteria, Julie took a quick look around, hoping to get another glimpse of Quinn. She had to see if he would affect her the same way this time as he had before.

  He wasn’t there.

  A terrible feeling of loneliness swept over Julie. She felt abandoned.

  And then she saw him. It was almost as if he’d been waiting for her.

  He was standing in a dark corner of the hall. And he was looking at her—she was sure of it—not at Tara.

  Julie tried not to stare at him.

  His hair was dark and thick, with an unruly lock that fell over his forehead. His cheekbones were prominent in his lean face, and his nose looked as if it had been broken at some time in the past—it was a little flattened across the bridge. Julie thought it only made his face more interesting, more masculine.

  And his mouth, with that full, finely sculpted upper lip . . .

  Julie turned away, her heart beating erratically, and took a deep breath. She wondered what it would be like to kiss that mouth.

  CHAPTER TWO

  I can’t believe it, he thought. That girl, that beautiful girl, with the crowd of giggling, silly cheerleader types . . .

  For a minute I thought she was Alison. Same
long golden-brown hair. Same big amber-colored eyes. I could see their color, even from where I stood.

  And the way she looked at me—almost as if she recognized me. I could swear she recognized me.

  But she wasn’t Alison. How could she be? Alison is . . . gone.

  And then later, in the hall, when she’d drawn a breath and turned away. That faint flush on her cheeks, and the way her pulse fluttered in her throat. He’d seen it fluttering like a butterfly in the hollow of that beautiful, creamy-skinned little throat. Her skin was like silk. He could imagine the feel and scent of that warm, living silk. . . .

  No, he cautioned himself. I mustn’t think of that now. Not yet. I rushed it last time . . . and look what happened. This time I’ll take it slow and easy. I’ll make her wonder, make her want me to make my move. But first she has to notice me, and I think she has.

  He smiled. A thin, faint scar, running downward, bisected his upper lip, giving him a slightly crooked, arrogant-looking smile. Like a pirate, someone had told him once.

  Yes, she noticed me all right, he thought. And I could tell she felt the same thing for me that I feel for her. She knows me. She’s always known me, just as I’ve always known her.

  He liked slender girls, he liked the look of slender frailty, and she was as slim and willowy as a princess, just as Alison had been. And she had that same proud, graceful way of moving her pretty little body.

  He frowned.

  But she’s not Alison, he told himself. I’ve got to stop thinking of Alison and looking for her in every face I see. That part of my life is over. And didn’t I pay a high enough price for it? Four years in The Place, and the terrible loneliness of knowing I must live a lifetime without Alison.

  And yet . . . that girl. That girl with the amber-brown eyes.

  Am I being given a second chance?

  CHAPTER THREE

  The big news at school the next day was that there was no news.

  “Quinn McNeal’s records aren’t with any of the others,” Karen Slack told Lisa Doyle, who promptly passed it along.